What Does the Ending of ‘Jolt’ Mean? A Full Explanation
Superhero films have become one of the dominant pillars of pop culture over the last few decades. While many of them are based on existing properties like comics, we’ll occasionally get the chance to experience something wholly original. The Amazon-premiered Jolt is one such film, blending some now-classic genre tropes with more typical action movie conventions. Like many a comic book-inspired film before it, Jolt has some interesting twists packed away in its ending that are worth discussing.
What is ‘Jolt’?
Jolt follows Kate Beckinsale’s Lindy Lewis, a woman who’s struggled with anger issues for her entire life due to a personality disorder. After many years of unhelpful institutionalization and military service, she finally seems to have her condition under control thanks to an experimental treatment method involving a vest that delivers a “jolt” of electricity whenever she gets upset. Urged on by her therapist Dr. Munchin (Stanley Tucci), Lindy goes on a date with a man named Justin (Jai Courtney) only to hear that he’s been murdered the following day.
Both considered a suspect by the investigating detectives and intent on getting revenge for the man who treated her with kindness, Lindy sets out on a rage-fueled rampage to track down who’s behind Justin’s murder. This sets her down a path that forces her to confront gang violence, government conspiracy, and her own traumatic past, all while struggling to control her outbursts after having built up a tolerance to her shock vest.
The ending of ‘Jolt’ hints at many things to come
Looper breaks down the various revelations in Jolt‘s ending. After many twists and turns, Lindy discovers that Justin is, in fact, alive. Everything she did throughout the film — battling gang leaders, coming into conflict with the police, and rampaging her way through the city — was part of a plan by Justin’s employers at the CIA. Lindy believed that the secretive billionaire Gareth Fizel (David Bradley) had been the one behind Justin’s murder, but the truth was that Justin and the government wanted her to think that so that she would disrupt his business. With his attention focused on Lindy, Justin was then able to sneak into his lair and kill him without issue.
Justin also reveals that Dr. Munchin was in on things the entire time, having had a hand in the “experiments” that supposedly made Lindy the way she is. Like any villain with a monologue this long and complex, though, this is about as far as the character gets to make it. Though he tries to use a controller for Lindy’s vest, she’s too used to the shocks by now and can ignore them enough to kill him for putting her through all of this.
Finally, Lindy returns to Dr. Munchin’s office to get some answers. While she initially plans to kill him, she decides against it in time for the two detectives who had been pursuing her throughout the film to learn the truth and arrest him for her. That’s where things would end in most cases.
However, Jolt has another surprise up its sleeve. In the last few minutes, a mysterious woman (played by Susan Sarandon) appears, revealed as having been in the background of some of Lindy’s flashbacks this whole time. She tells Lindy that her rage has made her strong, hinting that there’s some Avengers-like program she wants her to join. What this means for Lindy or any potential sequels isn’t known yet, but it’s certainly a tantalizing prospect.
The film has a mid-credits scene
While the meat of the movie is certainly done there, there’s a little bit left on these bones before Jolt is finished. Like any superhero movie, it involves a mid-credits bonus scene.
Earlier in the film, Lindy enlists the help of a hacker at a tech store to crack Justin’s phone for information on his killer. As payment, she promises the woman her tricked out sports car, neglecting to tell her she’d been using it in several highly dangerous car chases while fleeing from police. In the final scene of the film, we get to see the hacker receive the car, presumably getting to enjoy it for just long enough before it’s taken as evidence by police.
